Your Guide to Zadar

A morning covers it properly. The peninsula is about six hundred metres across, so the forum, St Donatus, the cathedral, Five Wells Square and the market are all within a short walk of each other. Add the bell tower climb and a long coffee on Kalelarga and you have filled a day.

The airport sits at Zemunik, about nine kilometres south east. The shuttle bus meets flights and reaches the city in around twenty five minutes; taxis, Uber and pre-booked transfers reach Old Town accommodation in fifteen to twenty minutes and the Borik hotels in about twenty five.

No. The Old Town is entirely pedestrian and no vehicle reaches most doors. Parking sits on the mainland side, is charged by zone and fills by mid morning in summer, so visitors staying inside the walls usually park at the harbour quay or the covered garage and walk in.

Calls run from spring into November and berth at Gazenica, three kilometres south east of the peninsula, with passengers reaching the walls by shuttle or taxi from mid morning. The forum and the Riva are heaviest from about ten until mid afternoon; early morning and evening stay calm.

For a half day, yes. The crossing takes twenty minutes as a foot passenger and costs a few euros, and the island gives you olive groves, quiet harbours and the view back at Zadar from the fort above Preko. Take a bicycle if you can; the ferry carries them for very little.